Simko’s Game Winner Sends No. 4 Seed Men’s Water Polo Past No. 5 MIT, 8-7

Friday, November 16

Providence, RI

4:00 PM

Brown University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Simko’s Game Winner Sends No. 4 Seed Men’s Water Polo Past No. 5 MIT, 8-7

11/16/2018 6:21:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Results CWPA Recap

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Junior James Thygesen scored four goals, and freshman Matt Simko netted the game-winning goal with four seconds left as No. 4 seed Brown University men's water polo beat No. 5 seed MIT, 8-7, in the first round of the 2018 Northeast Water Polo Conference Championship on Friday afternoon at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.

Facing a 6-4 deficit in the third quarter, the No. 16 nationally ranked Bears (18-12) used a 3-0 run to pull ahead 7-6 of the Engineers (9-13) – the No. 5 ranked team in Division III – with 4:41 to go before re-gaining the lead on the game-winning goal from Simko (Coral Gables, Fla.) on the hosts' final possession.

Brown will now meet No. 1 seed and No. 12 ranked Harvard (21-7) in the semifinals on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. MIT will face No. 6 seed Iona (6-26) in the fifth-place game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The other semifinal will feature No. 2 seed St. Francis Brooklyn (8-14) and No. 3 seed and No. 18 ranked Princeton (17-10) at 3:00 p.m. Princeton topped Iona in Friday's first game, 16-7.

"MIT is a great team," Brown head coach Felix Mercado said. "We have had two overtime games with them and another one-goal game tonight. If we are going to win a championship, we are going to have to score the ball. Our defense did a good job today and held them down. Our offense has to catch up with our defense, or else it will be a long day tomorrow. We have worked too hard to get to this point for that to happen."

Thygesen (Menlo Park, Calif.) led all scorers with his four goals while senior Travis Bouscaren (Cambridge, Mass.) – a 2018 First Team All-NWPC selection – netted two goals.

Junior Armen Deirmenjian (Beverly Hills, Calif.) tallied four assists and four ejections drawn, senior Spencer Carroll (Newport Beach, Calif.) notched a goal, two assists, and two steals, and senior Santiago Nunez (Miami, Fla.) posted two field blocks and two ejections drawn.

In the cage, sophomore goalkeeper Riad Hallal (Coronado, Calif.) made five saves in the first half, and freshman net-minder Ugo Piovan (Vouliagmeni, Greece) stopped four shots in the second half.

Brown opened the game with a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter behind a pair of goals from Thygesen and a tally from Carroll. In the second quarter, a goal from Bouscaren sent the contest to halftime tied at 4-4.

Opening the second half, the Engineers converted a 5-meter penalty shot and added another goal to pull ahead, 6-4, with 4:49 left in the third quarter. Thygesen found the back of the net from the right wing to bring Brown within 6-5 heading to the final frame.

Bouscaren followed with a goal on the inside off a feed from junior Hudson Rawlings (Murrieta, Calif.), knotting the score at 6-6 with 6:05 to play. After a point-blank save from Piovan, Thygesen scored on a 5-meter penalty shot to give Brown a 7-6 edge with 4:41 remaining. After MIT evened the count at 7-7 with 2:13 left, Deirmenjian slipped a pass into Simko at two meters, and the rookie knocked a one-timed shot into the back of the net for the game winner.

Brown improved to 3-0 vs. MIT this season. The Bears beat the Engineers, 11-10 (OT), on the road on Oct. 6 and, 9-7 (OT), at home on Nov. 3.

Brown 8, MIT 7
Brown....................... 3…1…1…3…8
MIT............................ 2…2…2…1…7
Brown Goals: Thygesen 4, Bouscaren 2, Carroll, Simko.
Brown Saves: Hallal 5, Piovan 4.